It is hard to believe that we are already in October. Time is flying by. Today is picture day at the library. Spelling and math tests will be coming today with your student today. Our special schedule seems to be finalized. It is as follows:

Monday: Art 9:00-9:45

Tuesday: Art 10:40-11:25

Wednesday: Music 10:40-11:25

Thursday: Gym 9:00-9:45

Friday: Science Enrichment 9:50-10:35 and 10:40-11:25.

Lunch is always 12:15-12:45

This week:

Spelling– 3rd Grade- https://quizlet.com/_3spt1x

4th Grade- https://quizlet.com/_3sptpf

Math: We are starting new units this week that focus on introducing multiplication through addition in 3rd and subtracting and adding 3 digit numbers and larger in 4th. We are also launching Number Talks before each lesson to help students with their number fluency and additional strategies.

Science: 3rd- Mrs. Parana

4th-We are looking at types of energy and we will be building circuits.

Social Studies– 3rd- Mrs. Parana

4th- We are continuing our study of the regions with our first focus on the Western Region of the US.

Writing– Both grades are working a new narrative with the focus on following the writing process and adjusting to the list of requirements that must be met in any writing for the rest of the year.

Daily 5-Book clubs are continuing and we are moving into new strategies for the groups. We are focusing on tools that help students with fluency this week for reading lessons. For work on writing lessons, we are focusing on nouns and proper nouns.

Have a great week!

I hope everyone had a great weekend and has managed to stay cool. This week there are a few things going on outside of the classroom. Today is the Buffalo Wild Wings fundraiser for the 5th grade camp trip. We also have preview day today at the Scholastic Bookfair. Students will shop tomorrow during the day so please send money in with them in the morning if you would like them to purchase any books. Picture day packets came home on Friday for picture day on Oct, 2nd. The fourth graders also received their first M-STEP result sheet from last year.

In our room this week:

Spelling: 3rd-We are looking at the long and short /o/ sound-poke, below, lock, broke, spoke, rock, mop, show, clock, stop,  Dearborn, Michigan, Lakes, Location Symbols

4th:We are looking at short /i/ and short /o/- sounds- person, interest, district, trim, adopt, strong, common, timber, grin, blog, question, experiment, hypothesis, solution, conclusion

All students need to turn in ABC order of their spelling words on Thursday and their test will be on Friday. I had a sick family member this weekend that I spent my time with so, unfortunately, our spelling tests have not been graded yet from Friday. I will get them done asap and get them back to you. I apologize for the delay.

Math-Both grades are finishing up their first units this week. We will be looking at pictographs with and without keys in math for both grades, to be added to what we have been working on and a study guide will be coming home towards the end of the week along with a test date.

Reading- We have finished our DRA testing and we will be starting our Daily 5 strategies. All students should be reading for 30 minutes a night minimum. They might have book club homework that needs to be finished and brought back to school during that time. Please make this reading time a priority as their reading levels has a major impact on all other subjects.

Writing- We have been working slowly on reviewing the process of writing a narrative and drafting our first one. As we work through revising and editing, we will be publishing our first pieces this week in Google Docs.

Social Studies- 3rd- This group  is working on Michigan Studies with Mrs. Parana

4th- We are creating folder flap books on each section of the United States to learn about the landforms, climate, economy and other general information. We will be studying the role that each section play in our country as a whole.

Science-3rd- This group is working with Ms. Parana on force and motion, specifically those involved in flight

4th- We are looking at force, motion, and energy in relationship to collisions and theme park rides.

Our building-wide contest to collect BoxTops and Coke caps is still going on. We are doing great raising money for the students! Keep sending those in. I also received my first empty ink cartridges which will get us school supply gift cards from Office Depot. Keep those and any small handheld electronics coming in all year long. We mail those out at no cost to us and get a gift card in return.

Have a great week!

Hello everyone,

This week we are pretty much into our routines. We are still finishing up DRA reading level assessments on each of the students but hopefully, those are finished today or tomorrow. This week the third graders are going to start working with Mrs. Parana for science and social studies. I suggest third-grade parents follow her blog as well for important updates in these subjects. In here, our week looks like:

Math-Both grades have 3-4 assignments in Khan Academy that need to be complete before Friday but they have time each day in class to work on them so as long as they are focused, these shouldn’t come home for homework.

3-We are working on elapsed time. We are also learning how to read and create pictographs with a scale.

4-We are working on lines, line segments, rays and creating shapes based off of the different types of lines.

Writing-

3&4- We are working on writing our first narratives. The students are revisiting the use of a graphic organizer to assist in the writing process. They will have their first published piece when we finish them later this week.

Social Studies 4- We are starting to look at the regions of the United States. Our focus this year is to learn about the US government, economy and why starts are grouped in regions.

Science-We are doing a refresher course on the scientific method this week before we start our first Project Lead the Way science unit. These units will meet all of the new science standards recently passed into Michigan Law.

Spelling: Students need to turn in the words handwritten in ABC order by Thursday. Beyond that activity, how you would like them to study is up to you. Our tests are on Friday.

Here are activities and the lists:

4th- https://quizlet.com/_3pubvv

3rd- https://quizlet.com/_3pub5e

Have a great week!

Hi everyone,

I am so excited to be starting our first full week together. If you are new to our room, I will update our blog each Monday with a basic overview of what we are working on during the week. I will also add any reminders we might have for upcoming events. If you have questions, please let me know! Please continue to save and send in BoxTops for Education, Coke caps and any empty ink cartridges or small electronics that are broken. We can recycle these and get gift cards for school supplies for the building.

Spelling- This week both groups are working on vowels sounds. There will not be spelling worksheets this year for homework. Students will need to put their words in alphabetical order on a piece of paper in the best hand writing (4th is cursive) and turn it in by Wednesday. This will be for a spelling grade. They will also be able to practice their words on www.quizlet.com where the lists have been uploaded for each grade.

third: cane, lane, trap, tape, ate, can, cap, cape, late, man

content words: genre, setting, theme, problem, solution

fourth: oxygen, strap, bent, umbrella, shipment, prime, staple, because, hope, rumor

content words: north, west, south, east, location

Math: Third grade is starting a unit on telling elapsed time with a focus telling time using a number line.

Fourth grade is starting to look at the different types of lines and ways the lines interact in geometry.

Science: We are starting PLTW Units for each grade level. Mrs. Parana will be teaching the third grade their science with her class.

Social Studies: Third- Mrs. Parana will be teaching the 3rd graders social studies with her class

Fourth Grade: We are going to be reviewing map skills as we start to explore the United States.

Writing: We are going through the features of a narrative in both groups. We will also be looking at different types of graphic organizers to help with planning their writing

Daily 5: With both groups we are looking at the different rotations and our expectations. We are also learning how to use our reading response logs to track our progress. Our focus strategy this week is “Check For Understanding.” All students should be using this strategy. Both grade levels have 30 minutes of reading homework every night. They need to increase their reading stamina as this will help them become better overall readers. Please make sure they are reading every night. If students are not making progress on their reading levels, a reading log will come home every night to track their work.

Have a great week!

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone is enjoying the last few weeks of summer vacation. Here is the supply list for the fall. Hopefully you can take advantage of some of the sales. I can’t wait to see everyone and to have a wonderful year!

Supply list-

5-single subject spiral notebooks-different colors if possible
1 composition notebook
4 packs of pencils pre-sharpened
1 pack of colored pencils
1 pack of  markers
1 set of ear buds to keep in your desk (no full headphones please)
2 duo tang pocket folders
3 blue or black pens
3 glue sticks
3 dry erase markers
3 highlighters
2 packs of wide ruled loose leaf paper
4 packets of large Sticky notes
1 pencil box

1 pack of  brightly colored pens for learning note taking skills Continue reading →

Wow, I can’t believe tomorrow is the first day of June already. Where has this year gone? We still have two solid weeks of work time and we are going to keep pushing ahead in each subject, although the activities are tweaked for some end of the year fun. There will not be not be anymore spelling homework officially but the boys will still have the option to practice Quizlet. The change is they will be handwriting their tests in cursive. We are working on our full sentence cursive now so they will be writing almost everything in cursive for the rest of the year. They should practice the words in cursive so they are ready on Friday, but this practice does not need to be turned in.

Spelling: The Quizlet practice and words can be found at https://quizlet.com/_3iayhl

Math: We are working on using rulers and meter sticks to practice measuring in both standard and metric units. The boys will have a test on this towards the end of next week.

Social Studies: We are finishing our last social studies unit on Michigan’s Economy and will have our district assessment next week. They will bring home a study guide for the test. When we finish our last unit, the rest of the time will be spent working on our map reading skills.

Reading: We are focusing on finding supporting evidence and making inferences in our reading groups. All library books need to be turned in the school library by Monday of next week. We will continue with our classroom reading groups until the last week of school so the boys should still be bringing this home and reading 30 minutes every night.

Science: We are still working on our earth’s systems with a focus on plate techtonics and how they form the different features of the earth’s surface.

Writer’s Workshop: The boys are writing a reflective booklet on their year. They are writing a memory that has something to do with every letter of the alphabet.

On Dojo we still have our list for the end of the year picnic. It is filling up nicely and I appreciate it all. If you would like to volunteer at the picnic, please add your name to the list or comment on that specific Dojo post so I can add your name to let the office know.

Please try to save a brown paper bag to send in with your student next week as we start collecting all of their work from the hallway and around the room. They will need another during the last week when we clean out desks. A plan for stopping “summer slide” with the students should be coming home soon. I encourage all students to continue working on Khan Academy and reading daily at least to keep their reading and math levels from dropping before September. Students can drop full grade levels if they are not using the skills during the summer and as they move into full upper ele., it is important that they do not have to relearn anything from this year because the skills become more challenging. More info on this will becoming home soon. Have a great day!

Hello everyone,

This week is a short week. We have no school on Friday. For anyone in extended day tutoring before school or STEM Club, both activities end this week.  Our list for donations and volunteers for the end of the year picnic will be sent out this week, as soon as our date is approved. Watch for the that and sign up for anything you would like.

This week in spelling there is no spelling sheet. Copies are running out so instead, the students are to practice Quizlet on the computer at home or to do pencil and paper activities. https://quizlet.com/_3hiug4

Spelling: noises, annoy, voices, thousand, frown, solution, conclusion, volcano, opinion, statement

Math: We are starting a new unit on measurement. The boys will be focusing on measuring to the nearest 1/2 and 1/4 inch. We will also be graphing our measurements to pull in some previously worked on skills.

Science: We are now working on the layers of the Earth. We will finish the year on this unit which will head into earthquakes and volcanos next.

Social Studies: We are going to be finishing our unit on mining, lumbering and Michigan’s unit. We will be heading into map skills.

Writing: We are working on an opinion piece about whether schools should go year round or not. The boys are working on writing strong opinion statements supported with strong details.

Daily 5- We are working on asking questions while reading and then going back and answering the questions with text evidence. This ties into our writing with evidence to support our opinion statements. We are also working very hard on cursive and for the last two weeks of school, the boys should be able to start writing complete sentences in cursive.